St. Clair v. State

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

Appellant Bruce Wayne St. Clair, Jr. pled guilty under a plea agreement that recommended a three-year sentence. The court accepted the plea, approved the agreement, and imposed sentence in accor-danee with it.

St. Clair now asserts that because the plea agreement "recommended" three years, the trial court was authorized to impose any lawful sentence, a sentence subject to further consideration on direct appeal. We hold that it was not. Once the trial court approved the agreement, it was bound to impose the sentence specified in the agreement. There was therefore nothing…